Choosing a builder is easier when you know what to ask. Relevant completed work, a clear quotation and a sensible explanation of how your project will run are better starting points than a convincing sales pitch.
Look for experience relevant to your home
Ask about projects with similar roof work, access, neighbouring buildings or changes to an existing house. A completed gallery helps, but also ask what the builder did and which parts were handled by designers or specialists.
Ask how the project will run
Who is your main contact? How are decisions recorded? How are changes priced? A clear quotation should set out inclusions, allowances, exclusions and payment stages. Understand those before agreeing the work, along with the terms of any guarantee.
Use references to learn about the experience
Where introductions can be arranged, ask previous clients about communication, disruption and how problems were handled as well as the finished room. Check current membership and insurance information. Choose on the clarity of the whole proposal, rather than the most confident sales conversation or lowest total.
Examples from our completed projects
The Stamford Brook mansard album records bedrooms, fitted joinery, bathrooms and the staircase. The Twickenham kitchen gallery shows the working layout alongside garden glazing and finish details. Ask a prospective builder to explain their role in comparable work and how a similar brief would be developed, specified and communicated for your property.
Further reading
- HSE: domestic clients
- GOV.UK: design and building responsibilities
- Find out about Ash Island Builders
Planning work on your own home? Discuss your project with us. A few photographs and your postcode are enough to start the conversation.